The Path to Two Worlds
by CherrySakuraBlossom4
Summary: Sakura Haruno had always had a pampered life. When she became a Chunin, though, she decided things would be different. She learned new jutsu under Kakashi, and had just began working under Tsunade when the mission that would change her life was assigned. How will Sakura deal with all of this? And better yet, how would she deal with being thrown into another world?
1. Prologue

The world was a cruel place.

As she walked back to her village, she couldn't help herself from thoughts like these.

The things that were required of a ninja. The things that they had to do, and see. She was at her breaking point.

You see, Sakura Haruno was a Chunin. She'd just led her first mission as captain, and she had also just been responsible for the loss of a life she was meant to save.

As she trudged through the village gates of Konoha, no one dared to look at Sakura the wrong way. They were all worried, but they knew better. After all, they had been through this type of thing before. Being responsible for losing a comrade, that is.

The pink haired Chunin walked through the entire village until she was met with her destination: The Hokage Tower. As much as she dreaded reporting that she had failed her mission, it was something she must do. She wanted to go find a small dark hole and sleep the rest of her life away in it.

Sakura gave a slight knock, hoping Lady Tsunade wouldn't hear and she'd get away with postponing her report. But today was not Sakura's day.

"Enter." Came the voice of the woman who held all the power over her village.

Sakura twisted the door knob and entered her office, closing the door behind her. Tsunade glanced up at the girl, who was her apprentice in training, and awaited the information that was likely to follow.

"Lady Tsunade, I have failed my mission. I sent my three subordinates, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Hinata to the hospital to be treated. They were not severely injured, but were still in need of medical attention."

Tsunade examined the young girl in front of her. "What happened, Sakura?"

Sakura began the story. Shikamaru had formulated a plan for their mission, and it was a hard strategy to break, but broken it was. Their mission had been to infiltrate one of Orochimaru's hideouts and bring back Light Haruno, Sakura's big brother. The strategy was perfect. Sneak in, sneak out, done. Easy, right? Wrong.

"We successfully infiltrated Orochimaru's Southern Hideout, which turned out to be a prison. We asked the prisoners if they had heard of a boy named Light Haruno, and they said he was just taken into the back to have experiments conducted on him. You see, Kiba used his nose to get us a mile away from the hideout. We ran into a smoke-bomb trap though, and it temporarily destroyed Kiba's sense of smell. We used Hinata's byakugan the rest of the way."

Sakura shifted her weight to her right leg and crossed her arms over her chest. She bit her lip, held her breath, and prevented the tears from spilling over from her eyes. She continued again, gathering a shaky breath.

"Hinata-chan used her byakugan again in the direction the prisoners pointed us in. Kabuto, and a woman that went by the name of Karin, could be detected. But Hinata indicated that the girl knew we were already there. As we broke into the room where they were holding Light, Shikamaru caught Kabuto with his Shadow Possession Jutsu before he slit Light-kun's throat."

Tsunade sat poised behind her desk the whole time Sakura was giving her report, trying to visualize for herself just what happened.

Sakura continued, not meeting Tsunade's eyes.

"It was easy after that.. Or it should have been easy. Hinata had just shut down Karin's chakra points, not killing her because we wanted to bring her in to gather Intel about Orochimaru. Kiba and I made a bee-line for Light.. But we didn't make it. A huge man with orange hair busted the wall open with his fists. A white haired man, and Sasuke Uchiha appeared from the opening in the wall after him."

Tsunade let out a choked gasp.

"The white haired man grabbed up the woman named Karin while Kiba and Hinata were fighting the one who busted open the wall. Sasuke and I were engaged in a fight of our own, but Shikamaru's chakra was quickly running out. He'd managed to move Kabuto far enough away from Light, but Light-kun was paralyzed with whatever medicine they had running through his veins."

Sakura continued. "I used an Earth style jutsu, temporarily breaking from my fight with Sasuke, to entrap Kabuto. It worked, but Hinata and Kiba were having a hard time facing the strange man with orange hair. Sasuke indicated that he'd had enough of the petty fighting, and began handsigns that I knew were no doubt a lightning attack. I assumed we were his only targets, but.. I was wrong."

Sakura's tone turned dark. "I used an Earth Dome Jutsu to protect me and my team, even though Lightning is stronger than Earth. When I had released it, they were gone, only leaving Kabuto and Light-kun."

"I thought everything was going to be okay," she continued. She stared hard at the floor, clenching her fists in anger. "But Light-kun coughed up so much blood... I rushed over to him, and a Lightning enhanced Kunai knife had struck him in the heart. The only thing I could do was watch the life drain from his eyes in a matter of seconds."

No doubt Sakura had tears running down her face by this time. She couldn't help the constant flow of tears that stained her cheeks, or the grief that filled her voice. Tsunade stared down at her desk, not knowing how to take in this information from her apprentice in training.

"That was when Kabuto started laughing. A white hot blinding rage consumed me, and I snapped his neck."

Tsunade shot up out of her seat. "Sakura, you killed Kabuto Yakushi!?"

Sakura stared her straight in the eyes. "Yes." she replied.

This was one of Konoha's biggest enemies because he was Orochimaru's right hand man. And Sakura Haruno had simply killed him? Just like that?

"My report is over." Sakura simply stated, wiping her eyes with her hands. "We brought back my brother's body, along with Kabuto's."

"Sakura..." Tsunade's voice called out to her as she turned to leave.

She stopped as her hand twisted the door knob. Tsunade asked her in a simple tone, "Would you like me to teach you Medical Ninjutsu?"

After much thought, Sakura agreed that she wanted to learn it. If it could help her save the life of another, then she would do it and she would be dedicated. She would do it... for Light.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is the first story that I have published on this website. The story is that Sakura was properly trained by Kakashi and became a Chunin using her Earth and Water style Ninjutsu. She's just begun working under Tsunade and is now going to learn Medical Ninjutsu. There's been a time skip of 2 years, wherein Sakura has now reached the rank of special Jonin. If I make any mistakes, feel free to point them out to me. I'll let you guys find out the twist of the worlds of Death Note and Naruto, so that means you'll have to keep reading to find out!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or Death Note.

* * *

Two years have passed since the day Sakura's older brother, Light, was killed.

Sakura has just reunited with her best friend, Naruto. After all, he was away supposedly learning super-cool ninja skills from Jiraiya. But as it turns out, people never change all that much. Naruto had heard of the news about Light's death. As soon as Sakura walked into the Hokage's Office, he gave her a hug that would crush a normal person.

"Sakura-chan, it's been too long!" Naruto exclaimed as he let go of his best friend.

"Naruto, you were supposed to train to get stronger, but do not crush my student!" Tsunade's voice boomed out.

A look of confusion crossed Naruto's face. "Student?"

Sakura gave him a nod and a smile. "Tsunade-sama trained me, just like Jiraiya trained you, Naruto. Did you think I would wait around and let you get stronger than me?" She stuck her tongue out at him. Even though they had been apart for two and a half years, nothing had changed between the two. Naruto took a good look at the girl in front of him. Both of them were now 17. The Sakura that stood in front of him right now is not the same Sakura that he'd left behind in the village.

Sakura had grown her hair back out, even longer now than it was before. Instead of the blue headband, she now wore a red one. She'd also discarded the blue ninja shoes and traded them out for knee-high ninja boots. Instead of the silly dress she used to wear, she was now wearing tight black shorts and a short sleeve white and red shirt. Yes, Sakura had indeed grown up. In fact, her bright emerald eyes seemed a shade darker; distant perhaps.

Naruto couldn't help the comment that was forming in his mind, "What could Granny teach you that you didn't already know from our training with Kakashi?"

Sakura allowed the giggle that bubbled up inside of her to slip out, one of only few these days. Tsunade continued in screaming and giving Naruto a good beating for that snide comment.

"Ahem." Tsunade cleared her throat when she was finished with Naruto. "I asked the two of you to come here, actually, so that I could evaluate the progress that both of you have done. Sakura, I know you're already a Jonin, but if you and Naruto together cannot beat Kakashi, then I am bringing your rank back down to Chunin."

Sakura gave a solemn nod. She would let no one take her Jonin title away from her.

Naruto blinked a few times, realization dawning on him as he finally absorbed the information. "YOU'RE A JONIN!?" he screamed.

Tsunade rolled her eyes and instructed them to go to their old training field, sighed, and went to follow after them. But not before she got a bottle of sake from under her desk.

* * *

Japan had just entered what should have been a state of terror. Only, things were divided. Either people adored the one called Kira, or they were strongly opposed but too afraid to do anything. "_Kira is a killer"_, L thought, _"a childish killer that believes he is doing the world a favor by ridding it of criminals."_ Watari stepped into the room at that moment with a phone to his ear.

"Please, hang on a moment," the old man spoke.

"What is it, Watari?" L asked him in his ordinary tone of voice.

"The Japanese Police have requested L's assistance in solving the Kira case." Watari stated, holding his hand over the phone's speaker. "Will you accept?"

L smiled a bit at this information. So, someone was finally going to take a stand against Kira.

"This won't be easy, and they should be prepared for a long, drawn out case. I will accept."

* * *

"Wow Sakura-chan! You've gotten so much stronger! But you'll still never beat me, I have more chakra!" Naruto shouted as they were walking back through the village.

Tsunade decided that they would form a team with Kakashi again, but she would provide them with a replacement for Sasuke.

Sakura couldn't stand to think about Sasuke anymore. He was responsible for the death of Light.

"Sakura, I know what you're thinking." Naruto said. She hadn't even realized they had stopped walking. "I know you want to kill Sasuke for.. for what he did to your brother." Naruto stated, looking down at the ground. "But Sakura, you have to realize, that won't bring Light back!"

Sakura stared with wide emerald eyes at Naruto. Then her anger bubbled up and she couldn't help but start shouting, "You think I don't know that better than anyone?! Are you defending Sasuke?! I can't believe you Naruto! Can't you see that he isn't the same person that was once on a team with us?! He was my brother's friend, we all were, and he killed him! For NO REASON!" By now their argument had started to draw a crowd, and Naruto pulled Sakura into Ichiraku, lowering his voice.

"Sakura, I know what it sounds like, but Sasuke's in there somewhere. I know he is. He's just..." Naruto trailed off, letting the words die. He knew he would never break through to her. Not right now, anyway.

"He's just what? Consumed with revenge right now, and after he's done with his mission he'll come back to us and be normal like nothing ever happened?!" Sakura spat back at him. He took her by the shoulders, forcing her to listen to him.

"And what does that make you right now, Sakura-chan?" He said gently.

Sakura gaze hardened. "I'm not consumed with revenge. I've trained to get stronger. My purpose in life is not to take out Sasuke; it's to heal people and save lives. Killing Sasuke would just be icing on the cake, and if I'm presented with the opportunity, I'm going to do it." Sakura shoved herself from his grasp, turned on the ball of her heel and stalked off towards her apartment.

Perhaps more had changed than Naruto knew.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: **I can't promise that uploading new chapters will be quick or anything because of school right now. Plus, I'm trying to make the chapters longer, so that will take a little longer as well. But, I will try my best! Please enjoy the story!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or Death Note.

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes to a dark room. The sun would rise in half an hour. This gave Sakura enough time to take a shower and ready herself for the day. By now, this was a routine that was easy for her to follow. Wake up, shower, eat, leave. Work at the Hospital, take a break, work, lunch, work, leave, come home, crash, and start over again the next day. This is what she'd been doing for the past year. It took a full year of medical training before Tsunade would allow Sakura to work in the hospital as an authorized doctor. Today, though, would be different.

Naruto, her life-time best friend, had returned and she was now assigned on a team again with him and Kakashi. She didn't mind being on a team. Actually, she missed it. But after her fight with Naruto last night, she wasn't looking forward to today. On top of all that, she was going to be assigned a new teammate that she didn't even know. A total stranger. Not to give anyone the wrong idea, Sakura was friendly, but she was also nervous about meeting new people. Not that she would let anyone else know that.

Dragging herself out of her bed, she walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower thoughtlessly, stripping off her clothes as she went. Everyone would think that Sakura was a very organized person, seeing how clean her apartment and desk at work was. But in the morning, she could care less. Clothes would be scattered everywhere for her to pick up later, dishes left unwashed, and a bed left unmade. That all happened after she came BACK home.

Sakura realized that she had wasted enough time, as the water had woken her up well enough, and got out, got dressed, and fixed her hair. Back when she was a Genin, she'd decided to cut her hair so that it wouldn't get in the way during a mission. She always regretted it. Now that it was finally so long again, she couldn't bare to cut it again for missions, so she settled with a high pony tail, one much like Ino's. As she deemed herself ready, she decided she'd grab breakfast on the way to Lady Tsunade's office.

* * *

"D-Did you say L wanted to meet us directly? As in, face to face?" The Chief Director of Police stammered.

"Yes. L believes it is for the best, now that he knows who he can trust and who he cannot." Watari, L's right hand man, explained.

Everyone in the task force that had been helping with the Kira case eventually got scared off. The numbers began dwindling as the situation grew worse, and now there were only six people left in the task force including Chief Yagami. What was more shocking, though, was that L was going to show his face for the first time to people. It was very risky, but it was essential for this case in order to catch Kira."

Watari pulled a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and handed it to the Chief.

"This is the address of the hotel that you will be meeting L at. Please come in two groups, but before you make any rash decisions, L asks that you consider one more time if you are willing to work with him. If not, please do not show up tonight. Thank you." Watari gave a slight bow and made his way towards the door with his laptop under his arm.

"Well, everyone, go home and get some rest until tonight. If you do not show up, I will not hold it against you, and you will not lose your job. You will just be assigned to another case. Understood?" Chief Yagami said.

Noting that all agreed, they all took their leave to go home to their awaiting families.

* * *

"Who's he?" Sakura asked bluntly as she walked into Tsunade's office. Naruto and Kakashi were already there, which surprised her. Kakashi was almost always late.

"Sakura, this is Sai. He will be working on your team now. He is the replacement that I have deemed fit for the spot." Tsunade said as she walked around her desk to her seat. Sakura looked him up and down, and boy, was he white. It was like he'd never seen the sun before. Nevertheless, Sakura stretched her hand out in front of her.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. Pleased to meet you, Sai." She said with a small grin on her face. After a few seconds of the boy staring at her hand, he took it reluctantly and returned the greeting.

"Now, Team Kakashi, I will assign you to your first mission!" Tsunade said. She was almost as excited as the team in front of her.

"Word has it that the Akatsuki have been trying to figure out a way to infiltrate into the village for the past few weeks, and as far as we know none of them have been able to succeed in that. We want to keep it that way. It sounds like an easy border-patrol mission, but this is an A-rank mission and should be taken seriously. We know they are after Naruto, please keep that in mind. If you are confronted by the enemy, send word back to me as soon as you can and I will send for back-up. You will be stationed at the edges of Training Fields 9 and 10. Got it?"

"Hai!" Team Kakashi chimed. They knew perfectly well how dangerous the Akatsuki could be, especially after what they had heard that almost happened to Gaara. Thankfully Gaara was strong and couldn't be taken down easily. It was said that he was able to fatally injure one of their members, and the other from said pair was forced to flee.

"Good, now get going!" Tsunade's voice rang out in command. Sakura smirked as her team shot out from the windows, Tsunade watching her with a knowing smile.

"Come on now Sakura, don't show off too much." Tsunade said, unable to contain her smile.

"Yes, Shishou!" Sakura made the hand-sign for her transportation jutsu and left the room with scattered cherry blossom petals drifting down to the floor.

"That kid... I'm making her clean my office when she comes back!"

* * *

Sakura appeared at the village gates, still smiling as cherry blossom petals fell to her feet. She was glad that she'd been able to master the technique so easily.

About a minute later, the rest of her team appeared at the gates, a look of confusion on Naruto and Sai's face. Kakashi walked over to Sakura and ruffled her hair. "Is my most behaved student actually getting ahead of the rest of us?" He said with his crinkle-smile showing through his mask.

Sakura giggled. "Sorry, sensei. I haven't been on a mission in two years; I can't help being a little excited."

"But how did you do that Sakura-chan!?" Naruto exclaimed. "I want to be able to do that too!"

"It seems to be a transportation jutsu?" Sai said uncertainly. Sakura gave him a nod to confirm it.

"Either way, it's still cool." Naruto said as they walked out of the village gates.

"Sakura, now that we're not in the village, I would appreciate it if you stayed with us instead of rushing ahead." Kakashi said.

Translation: "I am the Captain, listen to me and be careful."

"Hai, hai, sensei." Sakura said as they took an easy pace to the Training Grounds they were assigned to keep watch over.

* * *

Night had fallen and no one had come to relieve Team Kakashi, so it was assumed this mission would last for a few days. Sai hadn't spoken much and Sakura tried her best to make him feel welcomed, even if it was obvious that Naruto hated him right from the beginning. Regardless, he was part of the team and they had to work together, no matter how long this mission was supposed to last. Naruto was already missing his ramen though and spoke to Kakashi through the transceivers he assigned to them.

"Kakashi-sensei, when exactly will this mission be over?" Naruto's voice came in over the transceiver.

Kakashi's bored expression could almost be heard when his voice answered back dully. "Actually, I was sent a message that we would be camped out here for three days. Then we would return to the village to rest for 24 hours, and then come back for another three days of patrolling this area. There's no telling how long this mission could last."

Sakura sighed. She hadn't realized that this would be such a long drawn out mission. Right now, though, she could care less. It had been so long since she'd been on any mission, so she was enjoying it.

Sai was gathering wood for the fire they'd decided to build. This time of year it was warm during the day, but nights could be pretty chilly. Sakura was keeping watch high in the trees, even if it was already dark and her sight was hindered by it. Kakashi said that there would be two members from the Hyuuga clan covering their backs during the night. How considerate. Sakura couldn't help but think Tsunade was going a little easy on them.

Naruto called Sakura and Kakashi down from their posts, seeing as Sai was ready to start the fire. Kakashi used a simple Fire Style jutsu, and each one of them rolled out a sleeping bag from their pack. Kakashi was sitting up against a tree, reading his crummy perverted book. Sai was drawing - apparently he was into drawing as a hobby - and Naruto was sitting next to Sakura, her head in his lap, acting as a pillow for her.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto said gently. Sakura's eyes were closed, but she answered anyway.

"Hmm? What is it?"

"You said you hadn't been on a mission in two years, right?" He asked, almost afraid of what she would say.

"Yes, that's right."

"Is... it because of what happened with Light?" He asked in a whisper.

"Mhmm. If you want, I can tell you about it. You were gone, so you missed a lot." Sakura said, as if it didn't bother her right now to talk about her brother.

"Sakura-chan, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No, it's okay. I want to tell you, Naruto." She said, a smile playing on her lips. She still hadn't opened her eyes, so Naruto decided to relax and lean back against the tree nearest to him.

"Well, I'm sure you already know about what happened in **that** mission. Sasuke killed Light-kun and fled before I could do anything. Kabuto laughed maniacally. I killed him before realizing what I was doing." By now, Sai had stopped drawing and Kakashi had stopped reading, instead deciding to listen to Sakura's story.

"I instructed the rest of my team members to go directly to the hospital and that I would report to Tsunade-sama for them. They didn't argue with me, probably because they felt sorry for me and feared me at the same time. I reported to Tsunade all that happened, and she offered to teach me medical ninjutsu along with the inhuman strength."

Sakura paused, remembering for herself what had happened, and sighed before continuing.

"Of course, as you know, I accepted and made it my goal to save the lives of all that I could. For the first four months, training had gone smoothly and I was doing well enough to heal cuts, bruises, and small burns. She let me work on a few patients while she supervised. If Tsunade-sama was busy with Hokage business, Shizune-senpai would step in and take over my training." she explained.

"I didn't leave the village. You were gone, so I was never reassigned to a team. I stayed and focused solely on honing my medical abilities. A month after that, I was able to tend to patients myself without being watched over by Lady Tsunade or Shizune-senpai. I helped to mend broken bones, I tended to the wounded, and eventually I found myself working on the third floor of the hospital, rather than the first or second floor. That's when I went downhill for a little while."

"What do you mean, downhill?" Naruto asked, listening intently to Sakura tell her story.

"I was taking Light's death very well. Too well. When I was assigned to the emergency part of the hospital, you know, the most serious cases, that's when I wasn't able to save someone." Sakura stopped her story, taking five deep breaths, and continued while Naruto played with her hair.

"Luckily, Tsunade-sama had been working that day. When I lost the patient's heartbeat, I went out of control. Nurses tried to calm me, but they had to resort in holding me down while Tsunade sedated me. I'd been prepared to lose someone, knowing not everyone could be saved, but when it happened, all I could see was Light-kun." The kunoichi explained. "I stayed in the hospital for what felt like minutes, but in reality it was 4 months. They had to keep me sedated, because after that, I was either too depressed to eat, or I was trying hard to kill the person in front of me. Of course, I was seeing Sasuke, not the actual person, so..." her voice trailed off, leaving a silent crowd around her.

"But, here I am now, all better." Sakura said, smiling again.

Sai decided at that time to speak up. "Was Light-kun someone important to you, Sakura-san?" He asked in his monotonous voice.

"Yes, Sai. He was my.. my big brother."

"I see. I also lost my brother in battle. I am sorry."

That was the last words that were spoken that night. Somehow, Sakura felt a little comfort that she was not the only one who had lost a sibling. Did that make her a terrible person? She couldn't help wondering that as she drifted off to sleep that night.

* * *

"I... I think there's a chance that I may be Kira." Light Yagami, the Chief's son explained as he walked into the room, addressing L.

"What? Light, you're joking aren't you? Please, how could you be Kira?!" Chief shouted at his son. Obviously, he wasn't handling the situation very well.

"Light, the Chief is right! We planted cameras and wiretaps all throughout your house! There was no way you could have been Kira!" Matsuda exclaimed.

"No. If Light was Kira, he would be smart enough not to reveal himself. He could have worked from outside the cameras." L, or for now, Ryuzaki, explained.

"What do you propose we do about this, Ryuzaki?" Aizawa asked.

"Well... We could detain you, as we have already done to Ms. Amane." Ryuzaki proposed. The Chief rushed over and grabbed his shoulders.

"Ryuzaki, you can't be serious! Light is not Kira!" He shouted.

"Yagami-kun, please, stop shouting. I cannot ignore such a statement from someone I suspect."

"He's right, Dad." Light rushed in to explain. "Please, let me do this. I **WANT** to do this. Allow me to clear my name."

"... Alright."

He allowed Mr. Mogi to place Light in a detaining cell, one with a bed and a sink, unlike Misa Amane's. That was when the Chief had asked to be detained as well. He would go to great lengths for his son, and explained he wouldn't be walking out of there without his son.

Ryuzaki had no other choice other than to agree.

* * *

Three days of patrolling, and a day off. It was exactly how Kakashi had said. Only none of them expected to be patrolling **this** long. It had been approximately two months since they began this routine. It got boring about 6 weeks ago, and now it was just unbearable. 8 weeks of watching trees, trees, trees. She thought she could pull her hair out; she wanted a change of scenery so bad! Maybe a trip to see Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari wasn't a bad idea. Her idea was cut short.

That was when it happened. The explosion, that is.

The Akatsuki had grown tired of playing around on the edges.

They were coming in for a head-on attack.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Hopefully I haven't kept you guys waiting too long - and I enjoy the feedback I am getting! Please continue to enjoy this story. I shall try to update the next chapter much much sooner.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or Death Note.

* * *

Sakura's mind was disoriented for a moment as the shock sunk through her brain. She'd been out here patrolling for so long that she had forgotten the reason she was doing this mission in the first place. She took in the scene around her. The Akatsuki usually worked in pairs, but today, each and every member stood in front of their tiny team of four. Luckily, Shikamaru's team had been nearby when they'd heard the explosions and came immediately to assist. They must have been the team who was going to take their place.

Kakashi-sensei was having difficulty fighting off the one who looked like the leader, Pain. Shikamaru was effectively fighting the one they called Hidan. Ino had used her Mind Transfer Jutsu and was having an internal war within Hidan's mind for control over his body. Sakura knew Ino wouldn't win against these people. Their minds wouldn't be taken over as easily as hers was back when they were taking the Chunin Exams. Sakura looked around to see that Choji was doing a pretty good job against the one they referred to as Kakuzu. He would need help soon though. Sai was fighting with Kisame, and Naruto was fighting with Itachi. Naruto's biggest problem was Genjutsu, so of course Itachi went for him. The plant guy and the girl with blue hair were standing back from the scene observing it all, ready to jump in at any time to assist where necessary.

Sakura looked straight ahead. There was the guy who caused the explosions, and the one who controlled puppets. They were both staring at her. Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat and pulled her gloves on and got into a fighting stance. She'd try to take on both of them. Sakura started off by throwing 5 kunai in the direction of her enemies. One of them hit the blonde guy, Deidara, but the puppet master deflected the ones aimed at him. Sakura watched as Deidara pulled the kunai from his arm and saw the blood that had surfaced. He took it like it was nothing. Sakura, however, was more affected by this than he was.

She began trembling and clutched her head.

"_Damn it, Sakura!_" her mind screamed at her. "_You can't lose control right now! Everyone needs you!_"

That's right.

She had people depending on her.

She removed her hands from her head and straightened up. Her eyes went wide with surprise as she saw a puppet just a few feet from her ready to strike, and Deidara's clay dropping from overhead. She braced herself to defend, but Asuma-sensei swooped in and saved her miliseconds before the clay came to a deafening explosion.

"Asuma-sensei! You're a lifesaver!" She exclaimed, never before so happy to see this man.

He gave her a nod and charged into battle with the puppet master, Sasori. Good. She thought she would be able to handle Deidara by himself. She looked up to see him looking down at her, laughing.

"What's such a weak little girl doing calling herself a ninja, eh?" He called down to her.

Pissing Sakura off was not smart. Not smart at all. Sakura focused her chakra into the bottom of her feet to use as a boost to launch her up to his level. Deidara was taken back by how fast she was, and before he could dodge she nailed him right in the face, knocking him off his bird and back into the trees.  
Sakura landed back to her feet before she noticed that Deidara was already recovered and had sent hundreds of small clay birds her way.

"_I hope I make it in time!_" she thought.

"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullets!"

Shots of rocks and mud showered forward, destroying the clay birds and even got some hits on the blonde. Pulling out a pair of chakra restraints from her bag, she charged towards the fallen Deidara and applied them to his wrists, ceasing his use of chakra.

"Damn it, what did you do to me?!" He screeched at her, seething with rage.

"You're getting on my nerves. Earth Style: Earth Dome!" The earth moved to shape a perfect dome around the captured Deidara. This trick is what got Sakura to the rank of Jonin so fast.

She turned her back on the yelling Akatsuki member. She had to do something, but those two Jutsu used up quite a bit of her chakra. She rushed forward, taking advantage of one of Pain's blind spots while he was fighting Kakashi-sensei. While she could, she healed Kakashi's major injuries, but there went the rest of her chakra. She had one good hit left, and then she was out. Zero. Empty.

As good as **dead**.

The leader stood, wiping the blood that had trickled down a corner of his mouth. "It seems I have found the one I'm looking for." He stated.

"We won't let you have Naruto!" Sakura shouted back at him with as much energy as she could muster.

"Not the Kyuubi. You."

Kakashi and Sakura both didn't know what to say. Even if they did, they wouldn't have had time to say it.

"Konan. Do it," Pain said, and in a flash Konan was there in front of them forming hand signs neither her nor Kakashi had ever seen before.

Before anyone had time to react, Pain threw Sakura at Konan, but the two never collided.

Sakura vanished into thin air.

* * *

It had been raining all day long in Japan.

L looked out of his window from his headquarters. The streets were lined with people holding umbrellas, children running to get out of the rain. The sun would set any minute. Today was the day they captured Misa Amane, the one he knew was the second Kira.

Matsuda had been sent out to the task force headquarters to deliver an urgent message on behalf of Chief Yagami. That had been hours ago, though.

"_Where did that idiot go?"_ L thought as he walked back to the awaiting monitor screens.

* * *

"Why am I always stuck with these errands? They know I'm a police officer too, don't they?" Matsuda said, mostly talking to himself.

No one could hear him though, because the rain would have drowned out his voice and his umbrella prevented anyone from seeing his face. Not that many people were around to begin with, though. Right now, working the Kira case, protecting his face was the most important thing according to Ryuzaki's new theory. Apparently, the Second Kira could kill only by knowing a person's face.

Matsuda was just leaving the task force building, on his way back to Ryuaki's Headquarters. The building was huge, and it was constructed in such a short amount of time that everyone was appalled by its size.

The last light of the sun was just beginning to diminish. That was when Matsuda saw the flash of light in front of him and heard the body fall onto the concrete pavement with a loud thud.

Completely shocked, Matsuda dropped his umbrella and rushed forward, heart racing, towards the girl that had just landed yards in front of him. Examining her with only a glance, he could easily tell that she was bleeding. A lot.

He practically tore his phone from his pocket when he dialed 911. He didn't even know how to explain it to the paramedics - it was so weird.

Moments later sirens were wailing through the air. If Ryuzaki and the others wouldn't let him be a hero at his job, he'd make himself a hero by saving this girl's life.

Matsuda had no idea who the girl was laying in front of him. But he crawled into the back of the ambulance with her anyway, holding her hand so whoever she was would know she had someone supporting her somewhere. Before Matsuda forgot, he pressed the emergency button on his belt buckle to let Ryuzaki know that something bad had happened. Knowing Ryuzaki, though, he wouldn't care.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Hi guys! I got this chapter out quicker than I expected - I guess I was a bit more inspired with this chapter than the last! Again, I hope you do enjoy it!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or Death Note.

* * *

Watari stepped into the room where all of the investigators were gathered. They had five in all, including Chief Yagami, Matsuda, Mogi, Aizawa, and L himself.

Everyone seemed to be taking a break except for Ryuzaki. He was sitting in front of multiple monitors. One showed Misa Amane, the girl who L believed to be the Second Kira. One was Light Yagami, the boy who **thinks** he's Kira and L has been suspicious of for quite some time now. And of course, the other is Light's father. The girl, Amane, had yet to speak, but given time he knew she would crack. Watari looked down as his phone flashed.

"Ryuzaki, Matsuda has just contacted me with his emergency button." The room became tense; it so was quiet, a pin could drop and be heard by them all. The only sound that was heard was the rumbling thunder.

This brought everyone in the room to their feet, except Ryuzaki that is.

"Call him. Bring me the phone." He stated calmly.

Watari crossed the room, dialing Matsuda's cell phone number and pressing send before handing it to Ryuzaki.

Three rings and no answer later, Ryuzaki sighed and hung up.

"Well, there are one of two scenarios happening with our friend Matsuda. One... He is dead." Ryuzaki paused, allowing the others to gasp in horror at his accusation. "The second scenario," he continued, "is that he is in a place where he cannot answer his phone," he finished.

Aizawa and Mogi looked from Ryuzaki to Watari. "What can we do for him?" Aizawa asked, worry thick in his voice. Perhaps there was slightly a bit of annoyance in his voice as well.

Ryuzaki, without removing his eyes from the monitors in front of him, stated simply, "Watari, please track Mr. Matsuda's signal from his belt."

Without a word, Watari bowed and left the room. Minutes later, the monitor screens popped up a big W in bold, gothic text.

"Ryuzaki, the signal shows that Matsuda-san is in the hospital three blocks from here." Watari's voice came in through the speakers.

"Thank you, Watari." L said. The monitor went back to show the live footage of L's three "hostages/suspects."

"Mogi, Aizawa. Please, if you would, drive to the hospital to check on Mr. Matsuda. I would like an update as soon as possible." Ryuzaki said.

"Yes sir." Both of them said as they rushed out of headquarters. Actually, both of them were shocked that Ryuzaki would even act like he cared in the slightest. It was definitely a shocking occurrence.

Mr. Mogi jumped into the driver's seat. Gripping the steering wheel and putting the car into reverse, the pair sped out of the garage and onto the main street. The rain hindered their field of vision and forced them to be more careful than normal. At least no one was out much at this time. Most of them had already made it to their homes by now to settle in for the night. This day had turned from normal (as normal as could be for them right now), to stressful in a matter of minutes.

"Tch. Matsuda's always getting into trouble," Aizawa muttered under his breath.

* * *

Matsuda had been told that he was going to have to stay in the waiting room while the doctors operated on this mysterious girl that he didn't even know. He couldn't explain it, but this one girl had stirred something inside of him. He didn't know what it was, but it didn't feel right. He just couldn't leave her here alone though. Man, the guys were going to kill him for this one.

He'd been sitting out here in these stiff chairs, fidgeting, playing with his fingers, practically pulling his hair out, pacing, and drinking the complementary coffee that the hospital offered like it was water. He couldn't sit still for more than three minutes, and he was driving himself insane. She'd been in the operating room for a while now.

Matsuda stood up, deciding that he needed a breath of fresh air, but then deciding against it at the last minute.

"_What if they finish up and I'm not here?_" he thought to himself guiltily.

"Matsuda!"

He looked up to see Mogi and Aizawa rushing in the emergency room towards him. He didn't really know what to say to them, so he awkwardly waved at them.

"What happened? You don't look hurt." Aizawa asked, looking him up and down.

"Well, you see, there was a girl..." Matsuda began. Before he could finish, though, a doctor stepped out of the operating room and walked over to Matsuda.

"You're the one who's with the girl, correct?" The doctor asked Matsuda.

"Yes sir!" he answered.

The doctor cleared his throat before answering him. "The girl will live. It would seem, though, that she's lost her memory and we have no idea when it will return. I suggest, if you do not want to be a babysitter for her, that you need to leave her here and we will take care of her. She's in room 406 if you want to see her, though." The doctor stated, putting her chart under his arm and walking off in the direction of the front desk.

"Matsuda, you're here because of a girl?" Aizawa asked him, a little confused and a little angry at him for making them worry.

"You don't even know who she is?" Mogi asked. Matsuda thought that was the longest sentence he'd ever heard Mogi speak before.

"Let's talk as we go visit her, okay?" Matsuda suggested, walking in the direction that would lead to her room, hoping the two would follow him.

"Okay, Matsuda. Explain," Aizawa said.

"Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking. 'What has stupid Matsuda done this time?' but listen. I saved this girl's life. She came out of nowhere, and the next thing I know she's bleeding all over the sidewalk as I'm leaving the task force headquarters. I at least owe it to her to take care of her. I don't care what you guys say!" Matsuda's voice was pleading for them to understand.

Aizawa and Mogi stopped. It shocked them that the Matsuda they knew was saying such things. Before they said another word, though, they would just see what was so special about this girl.

Matsuda opened the door to room 406. He entered, with his companions behind him, and closed the door.

Emerald eyes looked up and met each one of them for a few seconds. The girl was bandaged up from head to toe. She had stitches in the back of her head. One of her arms was bandaged up. And one of her legs had a cast on it. As if seeing her for the first time, Matsuda noticed that this girl had pink hair. Baby. Pink. Hair.

"Who are you..?" A small, feminine voiced asked.

Matsuda stepped forward. "My name is Matsuda. I'm the one who called the ambulance to save you. The two behind me are Mogi and Aizawa, two of my coworkers." Matsuda said shyly. There was no doubt that this girl was attractive, and it caused him, and probably most men, to lose their confidence. How had he not noticed before?

"Why are you here?" she asked.

Matsuda stammered for a moment. "W-well.. I'm going to take care of you until you can regain your memories.. That is, if you want me to."

Aizawa took this moment to speak up. "I don't see why she wouldn't. She has no where else to go."

Mogi nodded in agreement. "Excuse me for a moment." he said as he stepped out of the room, phone already pressed to his ear.

"Matsuda," Aizawa started, "Ryuzaki is actually a little worried about you. I'm sure Mogi is telling him you're fine."

Matsuda nodded. It made him feel better that the people he worked with and considered his friends may care for him more than he thought. He turned to look at the pink-haired girl in front of him again.

"Do you remember anything..?" He whispered, kneeling down next to her.

She simply shook her head before tears started streaming down her face. Matsuda turned and gave a worried look at Aizawa. He'd never dealt with girls before. Much less crying ones.

"I'm so confused.." the girl said, barely audible.

"Well then, do you mind if we take care of you? There's plenty of room. It shouldn't be a problem." Matsuda said cheerfully, hoping to stop the tears. She just nodded her head without looking back up at either of them.

Aizawa left the room to go to the front desk to discharge her from the hospital. Moments later, Mogi brought in a wheelchair and they lifted her up and placed her in it. She was actually very light, much lighter than she looked. About an hour after this, they had her in the car and taking her to the headquarters. Apparently, L's interest was intrigued by the description of this girl and where she came from. Who knows what was about to happen, though, or why Ryuzaki was interested.

* * *

"Light-kun, I just wanted to let you know that the whole time you have been detained, the killings have stopped. It has only been a day or two, though, so I cannot be certain yet." Ryuzaki said into the microphone that connected him to Light's room.

"I see... Maybe I really am Kira.." Light responded. It sounded as if the hope was gone from his voice, and he had no fight left in him.

Ryuzaki turned off that microphone and switched on the one that was connected to Amane.

"Amane, we know you are the Second Kira, save us the time and confess." Ryuzaki said.

After awaiting an answer and receiving nothing, he switched off the microphone and let her be. When it came to things like this, Ryuzaki was stubborn. Actually, when it came to anything, Ryuzaki was stubborn.

He switched on the microphone for Chief Yagami's room. "Chief Yagami-kun. I know you are set on staying in there until your son's name has been cleared, but-"

"I AM NOT LEAVING HERE RYUZAKI!" Chief shouted up at the camera.

Ryuzaki sighed. How troublesome. He switched off the microphone and leaned back in his chair. He was so close to ending this Kira case. It would be so much easier if people just cooperated with him. But then he wouldn't be satisfied; that would be too easy. He didn't understand this though.

_"If Light Yagami was Kira, why would he be doing this when he knew the killing would stop? Did he plan this out?"_ he thought.

Watari stepped into the room with a cart full of sweets delicately placed on three tiers.

"Ryuzaki, Mogi just contacted me a few moments ago. He said that Matsuda is perfectly fine, if not a bit crazy. They're bringing a girl back here that Matsuda claims 'fell out of the sky.' She's lost her memories. What do you suppose we do?"

Ryuzaki considered it for a moment. Fell out of the sky? Was Matsuda on crack?

"Let Matsuda do what he wants, as long as it does not interfere with the investigation. We do have about 25 floors here, after all. I would like to meet this girl, though." He said.

Ryuzaki didn't usually go on things like a gut feeling. He was hard pressed on relying on logic, not feelings. But if he ever had feelings as strong as this one, he couldn't ignore them.

* * *

Sakura was so sleepy. She could hardly keep her eyes open the whole time she was sitting in that wheelchair waiting to leave the hospital. She didn't know who she was, who these people were, or what anything was really. The smallest of things intrigued her. When they started wheeling her out of the hospital, though, she became immediately frightened and wide awake.

"What is that?!" She shouted as they approached the car.

You could practically see the question mark that was plastered on all of the investigators' faces. Aizawa was the one who spoke first. "You mean the car?" He questioned.

"...Car?" Sakura tried saying the word herself, the word not quite sounding right.

Aizawa, the guy with the afro, sighed, "Don't be afraid of it. It's just a faster way of transportation than walking," he explained.

Sakura simply nodded her head and allowed them to help her into the "car" thing.

They had explained to her that it would only be a short trip, about 10 minutes. She just couldn't keep her eyes from closing though as they made their way to headquarters, blissfully unaware of what the future held.


End file.
